Mike Robinson Blog
Freedom is Truth & Truth is FreedomWhat is Addiction?
To understand the nature of addiction we would have to understand the root of all human suffering. Most people find that there is a deep emptiness or void within us, which they feel needs to be filled. To fill this void, we as humans, turn to various avenues to avoid the feeling that this void brings.
Avoid meaning anti void – or a movement away from the emptiness.
Therefore most of the human race has an addiction of some kind, from alcohol, food, drugs, exercise, religion, football, etc. It seems to be the destructive addictions that make the headlines, but we would have to look at the whole structure of addiction. Even obsessive compulsive disorder (ODC) is a form of addiction, of performing habitual behaviour in order to keep things safe and secure.
When people give up an addiction they often move into a secondary addiction, usually its opposite, so they become an anti of their addiction, yet this is not the solution either, as the void is now being filled with resistance. Those who have physical addictions i.e. alcohol, drugs, etc, can often give up the physical usage, but end up turning that avoidance into a psychological addiction, i.e. moving into a religious belief or a New Age belief, but still the running from this vast sense of loneliness is not actually being addressed.
This vast sense of loneliness cannot be escaped from, and most people live and die, yet they never actually face it or get in touch with it. In this space people often feel unknown, alone, vulnerable and unheard, as the ‘real self’, which lives beyond the ego or personality, is covered over by this ultimate sense of not knowing what is real and what is false. When the mind stops running and enters into this space, you will feel a tug of resistance, as this will require the mind to let go, but the mind believes that boredom will ensue.
Addiction is therefore an escape from feeling this boredom, and ultimately the real peace that exists beyond the dramas of the mind, which is the ego. If a person were to drop their addiction without creating another addiction, all the suppressed feelings of this loneliness, this vulnerability and being unheard will have to come to the surface and be felt. This is what most people are afraid of, so fear keeps a person in the vicious circle of addiction.
We pass this constant running from the void to our children and we teach them how to compete for success and we use habitual behaviour to do it. Our children grow believing that habit and addiction forming is normal and it is only when they move into destructive addiction do we ‘believe’ they are doing something ‘wrong’. Good addictive behaviour is still the running away from this deep-rooted sense of loneliness, and neither good nor bad addictions are the solution, as they are still the avoidance.
This moment is all we have, and we can observe our addictions only from moment-to-moment, so when you next reach for that cigarette, glass of wine or your three mile run, stop for a moment and ask yourself, ‘what will happen if I don’t do it?’ There will be a feeling, so feel that feeling and all your suppressed unhappiness will begin to emerge, so allow it to come out, and the next time you reach out for a false friend, keep feeling.
Addiction is neither good nor bad, it is what you are running from that needs to faced and felt. The void is the fear of being completely alone, beyond that is the real you, who is waiting to grace your life with its presence.
Mike Robinson, author of the no.1 bestselling book: The True Dynamics of Life
www.mikerobinson.eu.com
Being a Nobody
If you go into yourself very deeply and reflect upon the question: who am I? You will find that there is a great chasm within you, which has no central point. When you come across this vast, timeless space, your little egoic self will panic, because it does not know how to function or what it means to be without a sense of identity. At first, the sense of loneliness can be all engulfing, forcing you to feel the nothingness and be a nobody; not in the sense of the mind, but in actual fact, which is truth.
To understand this vast emptiness we have to go back to the beginning of this life. When we are born we are an empty vessel. We have no beliefs, no judgments and no opinions filling us up, and there is no conditioning which forms the individual personality. What we do have are feelings, i.e. when we feel hungry, we cry, etc. As we grow we are taught descriptive language in the form of labels and we start to store these labels into our memory banks.
Once we are able to communicate and understand basic language, we are conditioned and taught beliefs. At some point, before seven years of age, we have our first experience of pain, not necessarily physical, but also emotional or mental, and at this point of non-love, energy that would normally move fluidly through us becomes blocked by the minds reaction to the experience. This energy is now in shock and it becomes stagnant; this is known as fear. We have since lived our life trying to avoid a repeat of this pain.
Parents, carers and education also taught us about envy. We were subtly shown how to compare ourselves with others and then encouraged to strive to become successful in pursuits of sports, games, exams, etc. All of these things were cleverly drawing you away from being your real unconditioned self. This new version of you, with your beliefs, your conditioning, your striving and your envy, is known as the egoic mind – the ‘somebody’.
Once this ‘somebody’ that you have become, looks at anything with the physical eyes, all of its past conditioning floods the mind and it moves into judgment, comparison and opinion: creating pain, chaos and confusion. This manufactured ‘you’ is not who you really are, but to be free from it you have to observe it and understand it. Most people believe that this false self is the real version and they even fight and kill to defend its illusion.
The important question is: Is it possible to be the unconditioned you? Only each individual can find out for themselves, nobody can do it for you. Can you drop all of your beliefs, your expectations, your desires and your judgments? Can you drop all the labels you have about yourself and what you believe about others? Only by letting go of the illusionary you, can you step into the real you. When you are not trapped by the illusion of being something other than what you are, can you truly say that you are that vast limitless being, which has no label, no body, no where to go and nothing to achieve. It already is all that and more.
This is true empowerment of the real self, as it makes you the ruler of your own life. What will the ego do with this fact…?
Be Your Own Light
Be Your Own Light
Watching the snowflakes fall in the early morning, added to the extraordinary silence. The light glow of the pre-dawn and distant stars, which had not been covered by the snow clouds, enhanced the feeling.
How do we relate to others on this planet of ours? Do we judge others by what we see and hear, or do we relate through feeling for the truth? I ask these questions because so many relate through visual and sound only, forming judgments and opinions based upon their conditioning, therefore they are not really relating at all.
Within each human being is a male, female and neutral element. The male energy expands and repels, whilst the female contracts and attracts and the neutral remains passive, yet it can be affected by the extremes of the male and female. Judgments are mind related and feelings are whole body or heart related, so to truly relate requires no thought.
This world is divided by human thought, by individual conditioning, religion, creed, colour of skin, language, etc. We all think in language and this is a taught to us from a very young age and learning through vocal expression continues until the day we die, yet very few people stop and question its roots. If there were no language, how would we live?
Is it possible to relate without thought? If not, then there is no true relationship. Many people choose a partner based upon looks and personality and rarely upon non-distorted feelings, which brings us back to the fact that each individual is inwardly both male and female and it is these two that are at war. This reflects in the state of the external relationship. The issues you have with your partner are the very issues you have with yourself.
If the mind was free we would naturally attract the right partner to us and vice versa. This is because the cells emit a frequency and attract a similar frequency to it, so they gather together. If you are emitting a balanced energy you should attract a balanced energy into your life. The same principle of like attracts like, also applies also to distorted energy.
If you list your ideal traits of the perfect partner, then these are based upon desire and desire will bring about your suffering. If your list describes traits that you already have, then you can share with the partner that you attract, but if you lack the traits that you desire in your partner, then the relationship will bring you various acts of drama. You will want that person to fulfil the lack within you and this creates an element of parasitic behaviour, which is not love, it is deceit. Be the supplier of your own needs and your own light, only then can you truly share and have a relationship with another.
The dawn has broken and the snow is thick upon the ground. It sits perfectly upon the branches of the apple tree where a blackbird chirps loudly as it knocks the snow off a rare remaining apple. It must be time for breakfast.
Creativity & Life are One
Creativity & Life are One
Whilst living on the earth, the human being has many ways of expressing its energy. Some people express themselves through physical activities such as sport, others through mental activities and some use the hands to create through art, sculpturing, building, etc. Problems arise when the creation lacks the energy of the heart. Many things created by humans have a distortion in them and they lack a certain beauty and joy. These things have been created by the egoic mind which has not included love and inspiration. Creations from the mind are based on the conditioning and memories of the individual; they are creations of the past and they have nothing new in it. They are built to engage the minds of others and so real beauty goes undiscovered.
Most of us are taught to drop heart based creations when we are young. We are conditioned to believe that the mind is more important than feelings and educational subjects such as art, dance and drama are secondary to intellectual pursuits. Envy soon follows as we are taught to compete and become a ‘somebody’. We leave behind that innocent, intuitive being as we excel in that which is expected of us and we close down the natural inquisitiveness and the drive to find out the truth for ourself.
As we grow older the mind becomes more stressed as it is filled with complex language, data, facts and figures. The creative being inside has been bound and gagged and shoved into a corner as the intellectual conditioning takes hold. We move far away from our natural abilities to sing, dance, paint, draw, sculpt, observe nature and laugh and in its place we say, ‘I can’t’ or ‘I shouldn’t’. This beautiful intuitive, joyful aspect of ourself can no longer express itself as it does not know how to create something distorted, ugly and destructive, so it slowly fades away because it is not allowed to love.
True creativity is an expression of joy from the heart. This is not something that can be given to you nor can it be taken away. It can be covered over by the expectations from others and your own desire to strive to become something other than who you really are. What gift do you have inside of you, which you can share with the world? What was your childhood dream? This dream to express yourself through joy is what you came here to do, so what stops you from doing it? If you lost your job, your house, your car, your friends and your money, then what would be left? Only you would be left, which has all the inspiration and creativity ability that you will ever need.
If you are using your creative skill in your job, but you are not happy or it lacks joy, then you need to take action to change it, because before long you will stagnate in the idea of being safe and secure. Most people hold back from expressing themselves because they are afraid. They fear what everyone around them will say and think, yet most people have a deep yearning to break out of the confines of their conditioning and become the innocent care-free, creative, loving being that they really are. If you can do it, then everyone else can…Live a creative life starting from today. Look within and find out what would bring you the most joy from your heart…and then do it!
New Beginnings
Welcome to my new WordPress Blog site. Over the next few months I will post various articles based on the development of the spiritual self and excerpts of my new book, ‘The True Dynamics of Life’.
This book will be released in March/April 2010 and it is aimed at transforming the self and ultimately the world.
I want to thank all those who read and sent fabulous comments on my first book, ‘The True Dynamics of Relationships’ available on Amazon.co.uk or you can email me personally mike.jrobinson@tiscali.co.uk
Please feel free to blog and ask questions.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Warmly,
Mike.
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